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Windows Me Annoyances
book

Windows Me Annoyances

by David A. Karp
March 2001
Intermediate to advanced
480 pages
14h 8m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Windows Me Annoyances

Dealing with Drivers and Other Tales of Hardware Troubleshooting

A driver is the software that allows your computer—and all of its applications—to work with a hardware device, such as a printer or video adapter. That way, for example, each word processor doesn’t need to be preprogrammed with the details of all available printers (like in the early days of PCs). Instead, Windows manages a central database of drivers, silently directing the communication between all your applications and whatever drivers are required to complete the task at hand.

The problem arises when a driver is buggy or outdated, or one of the files that comprise a driver is missing or corrupted. Outdated drivers designed either for a previous version of Windows or a previous version of the device can create problems. Additionally, manufacturers must continually update their drivers to fix incompatibilities and bugs that arise after the product is released. It’s usually a good idea to make sure you have the latest drivers installed in your system when troubleshooting a problem. Furthermore, newer drivers sometimes offer improved performance, added features and settings, better stability and reliability, and better compatibility with other software and drivers installed in your system.

The other thing to be aware of is that some drivers may just not be the correct ones for your system. For example, when installing Windows, the setup routine may have incorrectly detected your video card or monitor and hence installed ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 059600060XCatalog PageErrata